Best Laptop for under $1000

[Ducker]

I've been looking for a good laptop for my wife. I really don't want to go over $1000, closer to $800 would be better. I want something with at lest 1gb DDR 2 ram, XP Pro os (with upgrade to Vista). Been looking at newegg, most of the ones that look good to me have Media Center on them. I wouldn't mind that, but I don't know how well my wife would adjust to it. She's been useing XP Pro for a long time and likes it. I could go with either an AMD 64 or Intel Core 2 Duo. I think either one would do nicely. I want something that will be able to run Vista well. I know I'm asking a lot for that budget, but any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

[ryanmartini]

Check out the Dell Inspiron line. WIth the 20-25% off coupons on ebay you can get a steal!

[ajrettke]

why do you need pro? the differences are really only for content management/restrictions...media center would just give more options honestly.

As for a laptop, I'd head over to www.notebookforums.com and purchase one used, you can get some awesome deals there

[Ducker]

She could certiantly do fine with XP Home, but my thinking was more how that would affect the Vista upgrade. Seems like I heard somewhere that MS would do the upgrads like this: XP Home upgrade to Vista Home Basic, XP Pro upgrade to Vista Home Premium. I'd like to get Vist Ultimate, but Home Premium would do well. But I don't want Home Basic. There probably lots of great deals on used laptops, but I really want a new one for her Christmas (and birthday!) gift. I've looked lots of places and just haven't quite found what I'm lookin for yet.